Sunday, February 16, 2014

BRAZILIAN cartoonist Gustavo Duarte may be a newcomer to western culture, but he's clearly a talented veteran when it comes to the rare skill of silent comic humour. He follows in a long line of talented cartoonists who use art, not words, to convey the laughs. The leader of this particular pack is MAD magazine's legendary contributor Sergio Aragones, so it's no surprise that he wrote the introduction to this stylish collection, published by Dark Horse in the USA.Monsters! kicks off with two shorter yarns, Có! (about a farmer's close encounter of the chicken kind) and Birds (where two business partners desperately try to avoid their inevitable date with the Grim Reaper).
Following these two entrees comes the main course. Monsters! is a Godzilla-style celebration of giant creatures rising up from the Earth's bowels to lay waste to civilisation, and the plucky barman (with a secret past) who battles them.
Duarte draws with a clean, confident line and his jokes are universal. Being silent makes his work accessible to everyone and Dark Horse is to be commended for bringing him to the attention of a wider international audience.
May he enjoy monstrous success on the back of this book's release.
You can buy Monsters! at Dark Horse or from Amazon.